Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Depends
Confidence: High
Buy if you run serious infrastructure at scale and have engineers to manage cost, config, and security.
Comparison
Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Azure
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure both land on Depends.
Azure
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Azure fits large organizations with dedicated cloud and FinOps staff, especially Microsoft-heavy stacks.
| Compare | Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Azure |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Enterprise engineering orgs | Microsoft-stack enterprises (AD, M365 shops) |
| Who it's not for | Small sites and simple apps . massive overkill | Solo devs hosting one site or app |
| Privacy | Mature security organization with public CVEs and customer-side breaches on record; shared responsibility means misconfigurations are on you.⁷ | Mature enterprise security program, but multiple critical CVEs and a claimed data-theft campaign surfaced in 2025-2026.16 |
| Support quality | Trustpilot 'Bad' at 1.3/5 | Basic plan criticized; enterprise support costs extra |
| Public sentiment | Review volume is enormous, but customer sentiment on Trustpilot is poor while marketplace ratings run higher.¹ | Users praise Azure's scale and Microsoft integration but repeatedly complain about unpredictable billing and a punishing learning curve.14 |
| Biggest gotcha | Managed services create lock-in; migrating off later is slow and expensive | Billing surprises are the top complaint: one user paid £300/month for a single-table SQL DB |
Pick Amazon Web Services (AWS) when
- Enterprise engineering orgs
- Apps with spiky global traffic
- Teams with dedicated DevOps/FinOps
- Compliance-heavy regulated workloads
When Amazon Web Services (AWS) is not a fit
- Small sites and simple apps . massive overkill
- Non-technical founders with no DevOps staff
- Anyone needing predictable monthly bills
- Teams that won't own security configuration
Pick Azure when
- Microsoft-stack enterprises (AD, M365 shops)
- Large orgs with dedicated DevOps and FinOps teams
- Hybrid cloud and on-prem migrations
- Startups able to spend Microsoft's credit money
When Azure is not a fit
- Solo devs hosting one site or app
- Small teams without cloud-cost expertise
- Anyone wanting a predictable monthly bill
- Buyers wary of deep vendor lock-in
Sources
- AWS on Trustpilot . rated 'Bad' 1.3/5trustpilot.comreview
- Amazon Web Services Reviews (14,388) . Glassdoorglassdoor.comreview
- Amazon Web Services Review . PCMagpcmag.comreview
review
- AWS Support Plan Pricingaws.amazon.comofficial
- AWS Securityaws.amazon.comofficial
- CVE-2025-23206: AWS CDK Information Disclosure Flawsentinelone.comsecurity
security
- AWS alternatives & competitors 2026 . CloudZerocloudzero.comnews
- Companies that use AWS (400,697) . TheirStacktheirstack.comnews
- Microsoft Azure Reviews | TrustRadiustrustradius.comreview
review
- I hate Azure pricing . Redditreddit.comreview
- Azure Pricing Overviewazure.microsoft.comofficial
- Azure Bastion CVE-2025-49752 | ZeroPathzeropath.comsecurity
